Well Whitney slept for 18 hours yesterday as we went through the Drake Passage so most of the last 24 hours will be captured by E.B. and Warren.
Warren and Whitney raced up to dinner last night to get one of the tables in the middle of the boat, as it has the least swing when the boat hits waves – hence the best location for those suffering from seasickness (Whitney). Much to our delight, Dad’s doppelganger sat down right next to him! It was the rough equivalent of your celebrity double deciding to join you for drinks. Mark and his wife Sherrin, a delightful Australian couple, have a son who works for Al Jazeera. Dad and Mark got on swimmingly but there was much confusion at the table as to who was related to whom. The older Australian couple asked Whitney if she was traveling alone or with a ‘partner?’ Whit immediately clarified that this was her father and used ‘Dad’ in about every other sentence just to be sure that the message was clear. Whitney then told the table that her friend Les was sitting at the table with his father Paul. To which they immediately asked, “Where’s your wife Les? Isn’t that nice that a father and son-in-law travel so well together.” Les tried to clarify multiple times that he was Paul’s son and not son-in-law, and finally gave up and just said that Paul likes his son-in-law better than his daughter. Needless to say when we told them that Mark and my father were brothers from another mother, they smiled and said “we thought so.”
All of this confusion might have been caused by the mind altering experience we had the day before when we went for a dip in the Antarctic Ocean. Julio, the expedition leader, explained it best when he said “It may not be wonderful, but it will be unforgettable.” Stay tuned, we have video footage to come. About 15% of the passengers did the Antarctic dip; all three Harpers participated fully. E.B. wanted to add the option of skinny dipping since she and Whitney have gone skinny dipping in every ocean in the world; however, the mechanics of getting a frozen bathing suit off and on in the water proved too much of a challenge. Instead all experienced for the first time all of the blood evacuating from their feet upon impact with the water. After this wonderful experience you will never guess what we did next . . . sauna! The best quote of that sauna session was when one guy said “I have never managed to get up in the morning and put on my clothes as fast as I did on the beach” and the guy sitting next to him said, “Oh, I definitely have.” This led to some wonderful story sharing.
The day before we went to Deception Island, they gave a nice briefing explaining more about the island and its history. The island started 10 billion years ago, or something absurd like that and then became a cauldron filled with water, which formed a natural barrier against the strong winds and other Antarctic elements (for more details, ask Warren). Due to its secluded location, the island became a popular place for whalers during the past century. Since the last eruption was in 1967, all boats that visit this hot spot are sent instructions concerning volcanic activity. Our favorite passages included ‘there are no safe exit strategies off the island’ and ‘IDEALLY, all passengers should be collected before the ship attempts to depart.” Ideally, not necessarily. We also noticed that the warm thermal springs they told us to expect were nowhere to be found once our swimming suits were on.
The other excitement of the past two days was the announcement that a passenger onboard had developed acute appendicitis. Initially, we thought this meant we would get to go to Cape Horn (not that we were only thinking of ourselves). As it turned out, due to Chilean diplomatic red tape, we couldn’t dock there so instead the boat went full speed to a military port in Argentina. We were thrilled that we would get to go through the infamous Drake Passage in less time and didn’t care at all that our trip would be slightly shorter. We were very lucky in that Drake was like a lake and Whitney proved her sleeping ability beat out her vomiting ability.
When we got to the military station, everyone was invited to come out to the deck and bid adieu to our departing friend. Apparently, most people on this boat come from cultures where “saying goodbye” means “taking lots of photos.” When her tugboat pulled away toward the helicopter on shore, E.B. and Whitney headed back inside. This movement perfectly coincided with the ship captain sounding the ship’s horn and E.B. hitting the deck, landing firmly on her bottom. Oh the excitement that we have provided for the other passengers. At least we weren’t the person who said, “Did I miss the show?” to the 70-year-old mother of the patient who then replied, “I guess my daughter was the entertainment for the morning.”
We should arrive in Ushuaia around 2PM today and will disembark tomorrow. We will then fly back to Buenos Aires for a day before flying home. We look forward to checking our e-mails and being back in touch with everyone. We will also try to upload pictures and videos so you can feel some of the excitement of this wonderful trip.
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